1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for treating fibrous material and more particularly to such a method and apparatus which have particular utility in pretreating fibrous material such as cotton fiber for the more effective removal of foreign matter therefrom without damage to the fiber and without capture of minute particles of the foreign matter within the fiber as experienced with conventional methods and apparatuses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The manufacture of finished products using natural and synthetic fibers involves a multiplicity of steps. In the case of natural fibers, these steps are directed toward converting the natural fiber from its native state into a fabric from which the finished product can be manufactured. With natural fibers such as cotton, wool, and the like, the fiber must first be harvested and then processed for the removal of foreign matter prior to being further processed and woven into fabric.
Cotton fiber, for example, is first harvested using mechanical harvesters which employ mechanical picking heads to extract the cotton fiber from the bolls of the plants and collect it for subsequent processing. The picking heads typically employ rotary members mounting a multiplicity of spindles and doffers which ensnare and remove cotton from the bolls of the plants passing in relative motion through the picking head. However, this process also pulls seed from the bolls with the cotton fiber. Furthermore, the operation inherently crushes other portions of the cotton plant causing fragments of leaves, bolls, seeds, stems, dirt and other foreign matter to become entrapped in the cotton fiber during the harvesting operation. This foreign matter is known as "trash" and the cotton fiber containing such trash is known as "seed cotton" or untreated cotton. Thus, the seed cotton is collected in the harvester with such trash intimately associated therewith.
Subsequent to such harvesting, present practice calls for the seed cotton to be deposited in a device known as a "module maker" which compresses the seed cotton into a large block known as a "cotton module". The cotton module ultimately is delivered to a cotton gin for the removal of the trash from the cotton fiber and thereafter for compression of the ginned cotton into cotton bales. The ginning of seed cotton for removal of the seed and other trash is a process which has been known, in at least rudimentary forms, for about two hundred (200) years. A plethora of specific ginning processes have been developed more efficiently and dependably to remove trash from the cotton fiber. Notwithstanding the lengthy period of development of technology directed to this specific purpose, a number of problems continue to plague ginning operations which have not satisfactorily been overcome. In a multiplicity of specific embodiments, it has been known to apply heat, moisture, and mechanical manipulation to the cotton fiber in an effort to extract the trash therefrom. However, such conventional processes have had to operate in an environment in which competing considerations required a compromise of the objectives involved. As a relative matter, the more the cotton fiber is processed, the more trash is removed therefrom. Conversely, the more the cotton fiber is processed, the more damage is done to the fiber itself and the more intimately entrapped in the cotton fiber become finely divided particles of the trash. Present technology calls for an exceedingly complex and expensive series of steps in the ginning of the cotton fiber in an effort to balance these considerations more closely to achieve the desired result. However, even the most successful conventional processes have failed to resolve these problems.
Therefore, it has long been known that it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus for treating fibrous material which has application to a wide variety of both natural and synthetic fibers, which is operable to permit removal of foreign matter from the fiber without damage to the fiber and without more intimately entrapping foreign matter within the fiber, which has application to a wide variety of conventional processes adapted to achieve specific operational goals, and which can be installed and operated without considerable adaptation and expense.